Reworking the Kensei

Sorry for the blog going mostly dark for the past month or more.  Hopefully I'll be generating more content over my summer grad school vacation.  In that vein, I had a bit of inspiration on how to do my Kensei (Weapon Master) class for Chanbara yesterday, and just finished typing it up as we speak.

Here's a sneak peak of the class write-up at the moment.  This is probably not final, I'll tweak a few things, and likely embellish the description a bit more before I publish.  But I think these are the mechanics I want for the class. Before I had the class limited to certain special abilities (combat maneuvers) depending on the weapon chosen.  Now, I assume players will likely take those maneuvers anyway, and give them a few small oomphs, in the allocatable Form bonus and "critical hit" abilities.

Mifune Toshiro as Miyamoto Musashi

Kensei (Weapon Master)

Few have the patience or drive to dedicate their life to perfecting the art of combat with a single weapon, but the kensei (also known as kengou) are those rare few. They may be soldiers or duelists, and legends are often written about them due to their amazing reputations. Kensei must select a single weapon (unarmed strikes and psychic duels are possible choices) to master, and some of their special abilities are determined by this choice.

HD: d10

Skill Dice: Combat

Primary: any except Con

Secondary: Con, any one other

Proficiency: any 4 weapons, no armor

Special Abilities: Maneuvers

Level	XP	BAB	Form	Special Abilities
1	0	+1	+1	2
2	2000	+2	+1	2	1
3	4000	+2	+1	3	1
4	8000	+3	+2	3	2	1
5	16,000	+3/+3	+2	4	2	1
6	32,000	+4/+4	+2	4	3	2	1
7	64,000	+4/+4	+3	5	3	2	1	1
8	125,000	+5/+5	+3	5	4	3	2	1
9	250,000	+5/+5	+3	6	4	4	2	2
10	500,000	+5/+5/+5	+4	6	5	4	3	2

Kensei select one weapon to specialize in, gaining a +1 bonus to hit and +1 bonus to damage with that weapon. At 4^th(natural 20), 7^th(19-20) and 10^th level (18-20), kensei gain special benefits on an attack roll depending on the type of weapon used as shown below.

• Axe: the wound bleeds out for 1d4 damage each round for one round per level of the kensei or until magically healed.
• Bludgeon: the opponent must Save vs. Fire (at -2 at 7^th, -4 at 10^th) or be knocked out for 1d4 minutes.
• Bow/Firearm: the shot pierces the opponent, doing +1d4 damage, and may strike another target behind the opponent if there are any, roll normally to hit.
• Ninja/Martial Arts Weapon: the kensei automatically adds a tactical attack effect to the hit.
• Open Hand: the kensei can make two more attacks at the highest BAB bonus this round.
• Psychic: the kensei gains Spirit Points equal to the amount of psychic damage inflicted, with any over the maximum being temporary until the end of the duel.
• Spear/Staff/Polearm: the opponent struck loses their next attack and is forced back 5' (10' at 7^th, 15' at 10th).
• Sword/Dagger: damage is doubled after all bonuses are added

Weapon Form: Kensei can apply this bonus as they wish to one of the following areas each round: initiative, standard attack, tactical attack, psychic attack, weapon damage, psychic damage, AC, TD or PD, but the Form bonus does not stack with combat skill dice.

Soul in the Weapon: a kensei of 5^th level or higher can damage creatures only harmed by magical weapons when using their special weapon.